Russian President Vladimir Putin promoted the Deputy Director of Russia's Federal Penitentiary Service, Valery Boyarinev, to the rank of colonel general just three days after the death of Kremlin critic Aleksei Navalny in a remote Arctic prison camp, an associate of Navalny said on February 20.
Ukrainian intelligence spokesman Andriy Yusov on February 19 confirmed to RFE/RL that Russian pilot Maksim Kuzminov, who hijacked a Russian military helicopter Mi-8 for Ukraine last year, was found dead in Spain.
A Moscow court on February 20 issued arrest warrants for two self-exiled Kremlin critics economist Konstantin Sonin and politician Leonid Gozman on a charge of spreading false information about Russian troops involved in Moscow's ongoing invasion of Ukraine.
A court in the Russian city of Kazan has extended the detention of Alsu Kurmasheva, a veteran journalist of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty's Tatar-Bashkir Service who has been in Russian custody since October 18, by two months until April 5.
The National Press Club and the U.S. government-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty said Thursday they are outraged by Russia's decision to extend the detention of American journalist Alsu Kurmasheva to April 5.